It Came from Beneath the Sink! (1996) (edit title/settings)

It Came From Beneath the Sink is part of the Goosebumps series and written by R.L Stein. The plot of the story is Katherine and her brother Daniel, along with their mom and dad move into this old beautiful house that sits on top of a hill. They haven’t even unpacked fully when Katherine finds a dirty brown sponge underneath the sink. But this is no ordinary sponge. Instantly Daniel bumps his head and the sponge begins to pulse and make this eerie noise like its breathing. Right then I would have left it there or either thrown it in the trash. Katherine and Daniel argue over who gets to keep the sponge because they both sense that there is something different about it.

Not seconds longer Kat shows the sponge to her dad who just happens to be up on the ladder doing something with the lights. Then he falls off the ladder and breaks his arm or either leg. Kat sees that the thing gets all excited and throbs harder when it hurts someone.

She takes it too school to give it to her teacher, but at the moment it goes back to being a lifeless sponge. Daniel discovers a book called The Weird Encyclopedia and it describes the thing as a Grool, which is an ancient creature that feeds off bad energy. It can’t be given away or the person will die. It can’t be killed with violence or with force. Kat is kind of freaked out a little bit but she shrugs it off and tells Daniel there are no such things. Riight. I guess the book was make believe too.

After that a string off things happen. Daniel’s friend Carlos steps on a pin, a tree branch falls nearly hitting Kat, and plans for her birthday are ruined. Also their dog Killer comes up missing not necessarily in that order. Kat decides she’s had it up to her and one night she goes out in the backyard to dig a hole and bury the Grool in it. The next morning she wakes up and all the yard is dug up and the grass is all brown and dead. How the hell did this happen over night? And then why didn’t her parent’s notice.

No their still telling Kat it’s just a regular old sponge and they don’t see what the big deal about it is. Even her aunt Louise doesn’t believe it. One day Kat notices the Grool is missing. Carlos has taken it. They don’t have to look far for him. He’s in the middle of the street and has fallen off his bike. But there’s no sign on the Grool. Kat and Daniel think it rolled down a sewer. But it’s not there. Carlos thinks one of the guys that tried to race him might have it. One of them does but they refuse to give it.

That is until the bad luck strikes one of them and Kat steals it back. When they get it home they try again in vain to shred it by putting it down the garbage disposal. But then Kat has an epiphany. She can’t kill it by force or violence but then she starts to sing too and coo at it. It starts to shrivel it up and then she kisses it and it just burst into puffs. Killer emerges and they all go out for ice cream to celebrate. When they get back Killer has found a potatoe looking thing with teeth. It’s the other weird thing in the book that’s related to the Grool.

I liked this book. I give it seven and a half stars. Mainly I like it for the ending. It was a little disturbing that the thing couldn’t be killed. I probably would have taken it for a LONG drive, but then the car would have flipped over or something. I don’t know how Kat ever came up with that idea in the end to kill it, cause that’s the last thing in the WORLD I would have thought of. It probably would have still be giving me bad luck today. Come to think of it. Is there a Grool somewhere in my house? Hmm.. remind me to check my sinks tonight for a brown spongy object and give it a nice big smooth! Lol I do recommend this book. The tv show was just as good as the book.